New Life Lodge settles suit over woman's death

Dec. 26, 2013

Lindsey Poteet and her daughter Arwen

Written by

Walter F. Roche Jr.

The Tennessean

A multimillion-dollar lawsuit filed in the death of a 29-year-old woman while under treatment at an area drug and alcohol treatment facility has been settled in a confidential agreement.

While the terms of the settlement were not disclosed, both sides acknowledged Thursday that the suit filed on behalf of the estate of Lindsey Poteet and her daughter, Arwen, had been resolved.

“The legal matter involving the loss of Lindsey Poteet has been resolved by agreement between New Life Lodge and the Estate of Lindsey Poteet,” the Burns treatment facility reported in an email response to questions.

Noting that the terms of the settlement are confidential by the agreement of both parties, the statement continued,“the sympathies of everyone at New Life Lodge are with the family of Ms. Poteet for her sad passing. New Life Lodge remains committed to our mission of helping patients in their struggles with addiction, and to building on our record of continually enhancing our approaches to treatment of this devastating disease.”

Matt Hardin, the Nashville attorney representing Poteet’s family, said that under the terms of the agreement he could only confirm that a settlement had been reached and all matters with New Life were resolved.

The suit, filed in August 2011, sought $32 million in compensatory and punitive damages. Poteet’s daughter, Arwen, was 17 months old when her mother died in September 2010.

Still to be resolved are complaints against Jonathan Butler, then medical director at New Life, who has since relocated to Indiana.

In addition, two other suits stemming from the deaths of two other New Life Lodge patients are pending in circuit court in Dickson County.

Those suits, filed on behalf of the estates of Savon Kinney and Patrick Bryant, seek nearly $30 million in damages.

The Poteet settlement averts what was anticipated to be a highly contested trial. In preliminary hearings held earlier this year, lawyers for both sides sparred heatedly over issues including the prior health of Poteet, her drug use, the adequacy of New Life staff and whether the names of other former patients who were at the sprawling 120-acre facility could be disclosed.

New Life, which is owned by California-based CRC Health, was shut down by state regulators in late 2012 following a series of Tennessean stories about the three deaths and other allegations about staffing levels and training. It reopened at a reduced capacity and now serves only adults.

A major issue in the Poteet case was the decision to transport the 29-year-old from New Life to a Nashville hospital, some 30 miles away, in a company vehicle rather than by emergency vehicle to a nearby hospital.

Poteet collapsed and became unresponsive during the trip and the lone New Life employee staffing the vehicle had to pull off the highway and call 911. The New Life employee did not administer emergency treatment, records show, and told emergency dispatchers that she didn’t know how to tell whether Poteet was breathing.

CRC, the parent company, has disclosed in recent filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that New Life is the subject of an ongoing civil investigation by federal officials and the Tennessee attorney general regarding its billing practices from 2007 to 2011.

The recent filing also states that the company, while it does not feel the claims have any merit, has set aside some $9.25 million to cover the costs of any awards stemming from a possible whistleblower suit related to that inquiry.